


Remnants of War

by Featherstorm77



Series: Sad Season 8 Stuff [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Hopeful Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 10:38:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17865683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Featherstorm77/pseuds/Featherstorm77
Summary: Keith isn't okay, and his team notices.“Seems like kind of a dumb reason,” Lance says, trying to keep his tone light.Keith laughs, but it’s short and pained. “Maybe.” He looks away again. “Seems like kind of a good excuse, though.”He presses his hands to his face, so Lance misses whatever expression he’s making, but the harsh scratch in his voice says all he needs to know.





	Remnants of War

It's not the first time Keith leaves the meeting room immediately after it ends, and it won't be the last.

Anyone who doesn't know him would think he's just leaving. Keith doesn't do things by halves, and if he was mad, he'd be storming out.

Lance knows this, but he also knows Keith, and that twisted up look on his face isn't one of simple dismissal. He isn't angry, but he _is_ upset. Everyone besides the team somehow seems to forget Keith has more than two emotions, and the pain is clear as day on his face to all the paladins.

After sharing a look with Allura and having a silent conversation with her through expression alone, Lance excuses himself from the table and trails after Keith. He usually stays, but the others know what he's doing, and anyone who doesn't won't notice anything amiss.

Keith is easy to find.

He's in the common room for the Paladins. The Atlas was their home for a while and even though they all have their own missions that lead them elsewhere for long periods of time, this is where they come back to. They always come back to each other.

Lance walks in tentatively, noticing the way Keith grips his hair, leaned over his knees on the couch. He isn't making any noise, but his shoulders are shaking.

He pads closer to Keith carefully, like approaching a feral cat. He always has, but this moment in particular seems precarious, like it will snap and break and fall apart into pieces if he steps wrong. He doesn't want that. It isn't what Keith needs.

He's not silent, though, and when he's about a foot away, Keith takes in a breath and looks up, voice hitching even though his eyes are clear. “Lance?”

He sounds disbelieving. Lance is too -- or he would be if they were about a year younger. They're not, so he nods, rocking forward on the balls of his feet. 

“You wanna talk about it?” he asks, flicking his attention across Keith's face. He's willing to drop it if Keith wants. He just wants to help.

Keith lets out a noise that could be a scoff or a laugh, but sounds more like a sob. At the intake, he sighs and leans back into the couch, though none of the tension from before leaves his body. One of his hands still has a death-grip on his knee. Lance faintly thinks that can't be comfortable, but he doesn't press it. He sits gingerly next to Keith instead, and offers up something of his own.

“Y'know, when we thought Allura was dead, I told myself I could deal with it. The price of being defenders of the universe, right? It fucks with your life, and you just have to live with that.”

He leaves it at that. Keith's thing was undoubtedly different, but they never talk about the heavy stuff.

Keith sighs again. He’s looking at the skylight that takes up most of the ceiling, reflecting spilled starlight in his eyes. They’re orbiting Altea at the moment, but they'd probably be somewhere else entirely in the morning.

“The price of being defenders of the universe….” Keith trails off, and his voice is more melancholy than Lance's sarcasm. He sounds pensive.

Lance lets him take the moment he probably needs. He wasn't always so patient, but reading people is his specialty. It just took time to learn Keith's non-verbal cues and actually respond to them accordingly. Maybe it had something to do with the fact he’s an alien. Then again, Shiro had always been able to read Keith, so maybe it’s something else entirely.

Keith blew a stray piece of hair off his face. He usually wore it in a braid, but today it's a high bun that’s slowly unraveling.

“Do you think that's why we don't talk anymore?” Keith asks, turning his head so he’s actually facing Lance. His expression is calm, but that look he had on his face right before escaping the meeting keeps flashing in Lance's mind.

Lance doesn't have to guess who he means. There's only one person who’s distant with Keith. The tables had turned. All the paladins treat Keith like family whereas Shiro seems polite and avoidant. Lance doesn't know what caused that if Keith doesn't; before this moment, he assumed something private had gone down between the two of them.

“Seems like kind of a dumb reason,” Lance says, trying to keep his tone light.

Keith laughs, but it’s short and pained. “Maybe.” He looks away again. “Seems like kind of a good excuse, though.”

He presses his hands to his face, so Lance misses whatever expression he’s making, but the harsh scratch in his voice says all he needs to know. 

“God, I told him I loved him, and we never even talked about it. I know - I know we were fighting a war, but what kind of person gets married while dancing around talking to their best friend?”

Lance lets out a sound of surprise, but it turns into a growl, something he learned from Keith. “An idiot,” he agrees. 

Keith laughs harshly and presses his face back into his knees in a reflection of his earlier pose. “Yeah.” His voice comes out gravelly. “And if he wanted to talk now, he would, but we have this -- this,” he waves at the general area, “and that means we have to breathe the same air.”

Lance doesn't say anything. Keith levels him with a look through his hair. “I left for a _reason._ I love you guys, but I can't handle being around Shiro. I don't understand the insistence for...this. Like it's the good old days and we aren't all adults with nightmares about a war that's been over for years.”

He spits out the words with venom. It's the first time he's said Shiro's name, and it sounds like a curse. Lance sucks in a breath at that, ducks his head, and smiles wryly. 

“Hasn't it always been like that?” They're never particularly open about anything with each other, but they all recognize the haunted looks in each other's eyes, and don't judge when one of them is making coffee in the dead of night. There's some camaraderie in that, but Lance doesn't know how to voice that, so he tries for the next best thing.

He gently leans into Keith's shoulder before pulling away, a mimicry of a shoulder bump. “We might be a fucked up family, but at least it's because we all experienced the same fucked up things.”

At that, Keith's expression starts shifting into a look of quiet anger, one that means he's setting his jaw in determination and about to throw his all into something. Lance isn't sure that's the best idea, and he isn't sure that's what Keith should have gotten out of this conversation, but he's at least glad to have a Keith he knows back.

He's glad to see the conviction in his eyes when Keith stands, pulls Lance into a crushing hug, and walks away with the same purpose he left the meeting with.

It's a start, at least.

**Author's Note:**

> Yell at me for this on [twitter](https://twitter.com/featherstorm77)


End file.
